Challenge Accepted (1)
by JustOl'Ivy
Summary: **Re-edited version of the original** She had been assigned to care and watch over the sleeping man, and ended up with some cracked ribs and a black eye. With the world in the hands of a jealous Demi-God, it's time for the dormant-pilot to quit her day job and get back into the swing of being around the Super-Soldier who stole her heart without so much of a word.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters associated with this story aside from my original character. All rights reserved to their original creators. This is purely for entertainment only.

Author's Note.  
Hello :)  
So I thought it was about time that I got back into the swing of writing having been gone for nearly over a year now. I recently got engaged so I've been a busy busy bee sorting out the wedding stuff and getting my immigration papers ready to join my fiance and pooch at the end of the year! I thought that maybe since the story was published in 2012, that I would go back and give it a bit of a re-vamping.

With this following tonight once many of the chapters have been uploaded, the original story of Challenge Accepted will be removed from the site. Fair warning.

* * *

'There was an idea to bring a group of remarkable people together, so when we needed them, they could fight the battles that we never could. It was called the Avengers Initiative'

 **Washington D.C**

Left. Right. Jab. Block. Upper cut. Jab. Block. Hook. Hook. Jab - Doorbell?

The excessive ringing caught her attention, bringing the slightly out of breath brunette away from her nightly work out, she pressed her hands firmly against her now aching sides as she made quick work of stretching the pain out. The punching bag that she had strung up in her spare room was left burnt and splitting around the edges from her efforts. Jennifer grabbed the damp towel from the bench, throwing it carelessly over her shoulders as she jogged down towards her front door. She wasn't expecting anyone? She grabbed her gun from the drawer beneath the bowl of keys, tucking it inside the waistband of her yoga pants as she unlatched the thick chains she had fit over the door. She arched her brow as she came face to face with Maria Hill, a bundle of files in her hands.

"Maria?" She asked opening the door wider for the brunette with a small smile, "What are you doing in D.C at ten o'clock on a Sunday night?"

"Fury sent me." Maria replied with a small shrug as she closed the door over behind her. She looked around amused noticing the toys that were littered across the living room floor of the normaly over-tidied apartment. "Fletch?" She asked picking up the lilac rabbit from the floor.

Jennifer smiled, "My niece is here remember?" She explained gesturing down the hall to where her niece had taken up a semi-permanent residence in her guestroom. She kicked her leg underneath herself as she sat back down onto the couch, raising her eyebrow as she flipped open a file on the Tesseract, that she was pretty sure was supposed to be locked away in a facility in the middle of the desert. "Now I'm assuming Fury didn't send you all this way just to discuss my messy apartment." She commented, "What's going on now?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D needs you to come in," She explained as she handed over the remaining files, the one at the bottom belonging to her. "It's been - stolen," She sighed, "You recognise this guy?" She asked handing over the photo from his file. "Loki?"

Jennifer raised her gaze up from the file to stare at the photo of the inky-haired man, "I don't.." She sighed, "I've heard of his brother-" She paused, "Thor? But that is as far as my Norse knowledge goes."

Maria frowned, "This man managed to steal the cube without so much as breaking a sweat, not only that - he has Erik Selvig and-" She looked up quickly to watch her expression, "Clint Barton under some sort of enchantment," Jennifer sat up a little straighter as she raised her brow at the information. "I know that you said you were done now that you have Andie and after Rogers - but we need you." She all but pleaded, "This isn't about us anymore." She stated, "Fury wants to assemble the Avengers."

"Fury threw that idea out of the window years ago - literally." Jennier commented shaking her head amused, "Why does he want us all now?"

"We believe that we are facing what could be a global catastrophe." Maria sighed, "We need all the help that we could possibly get in bringing it home."

"I'm a pilot Maria," Jennifer lied as she looked anywhere else but at her. "There isn't much I can do but fly the jets,"

Maria smirked flipping open the last file and slid a photograph across the coffee table towards her. Jennifer sighed looking down at the image of the woman, who funnily enough looked a lot like her, encased in bright blue flames soaring alongside the at-the-time upgraded Iron Man suit.

"I'm not her anymore Maria," She sighed. "I'll fly your jets but my days as Skylight are done."

"Fletch." Maria tried softly, putting her hand on the woman's knee. "What happened with Pam wasn't your fault, she knew the risks of her job when she left." Jennifer rolled her eyes. "With Rogers-" She was interrupted as a soft wail carried it's way down the hallway stealing their attention away, "I think you're being summoned."

"Listen to me," Jennifer replied scooping up the files into her arms, "I'll do what I can to help you - believe me I will," She stood up holding the files to her chest as she turned to walk down the hall. "-but I have other responsibilities now, I can't just run back into the firing line."

"Don't you think we thought about that." She called after her, "He's there." Jennifer stopped. "Just think about it Fletch, the jet will be waiting for you tomorrow morning." She smirked, "I hope Andie isn't too much of a handful for you tonight."

Jennifer just shook her head as she walked into the guest room, she leant over the edge of the large cot to see her niece staring up at her through teary doe-like-eyes. "What's the matter with you little lady?"

The little girl simply whimpered causing Jennifer to sigh as she set down the files on the small table before reaching down to scoop her up.

She whispered sweet nothings to her, smoothing down her messy blonde hair as she paced back and forth around the room, "Auntie Fletch needs to go away for a little while baby," Andie whimpered again against her shoulder, as if she understood, "I know I know - I don't want to leave you either sweetheart, but I'm pretty sure that your daddy will take good care of you when I'm gone."

"Why?" She suddenly demanded clutching her small turtle to her chest.

"I have to go back to work sweetie," She replied. She sighed kissing the side of her head, "I love you so much Andie-pop"

The Lincoln memorial stood only a short distance away lit up by a few spotlights. Jennifer sighed to herself drawing the curtains closed before silently traipsing back to her own bedroom, Andie safely back to sleep. She grabbed her cell from the nightstand and took a breath.

"Ah.." Tony chuckled, "The ever beautiful Miss Fletcher," She smirked sitting down on the edge of her bed, "I take it one of our friendly neighbourhood S.H.I.E.L.D agents have just left your humble D.C abode?"

Jennifer smirked tucking her hair behind her ear. "What do you make of it all?"

"I think you've had your bags packed for a year now Fletch." He commented. She groaned looking over to the chaise that sat in the corner of her room, where her duffle bag had never moved from. "Am I right?"

"I promised Pam I would help Chris take care of Andie, how can I just up and leave again?" She questioned.

"Your sister knew the life you had chosen the moment that you got here Fletch," Tony explained, "She went her way, you went yours it's not exactly rocket-science," He smirked, "You're Skylight." Jennifer rolled her eyes at the name the media had given her, "They need you to go in there and do your job!"

She grumbled, "This isn't my job anymore."

"And what?" He asked, "You're just gonna be the live in nanny while her dad does what? Waste away in grief and not be a father?" Jennifer huffed, "You loved your job-" He chuckled, "And the people it brought with it."

* * *

Having long hung up on Tony during his ramblings about Pepper allowing builders to invade his private elevator, she lay curled up on her side clutching a pillow to her chest as she stared at the photographs that stayed next to her bed. She stared at the photo of her and her beautiful blonde sister Pamela, the day would forever stick in her mind, it was the day she was told she was about to be an auntie before she flew out on a re-con mission.

They looked like polar opposites but a perfect match to be sisters.

She sighed to herself.

Pamela had been sent out on a recon mission just over a year ago, when Andie was only just coming up for one, she had been caught up in an ambush that sent her back to the States in a box along with four other S.H.I.E.L.D personnel. Andie was too young to even comprehend what was going on, she barely even seen her father in that time, who spends most of his days staying hidden indoors refusing to do much of anything.

Jennifer grumbled to herself slightly as she watched the flames twirl around her fingertips, she did miss her job. Of course she did, she had a badass job. She just couldn't stomach the idea of leaving Andie behind for so long.

* * *

Tony paced across the control room on the top floor of Stark Tower. His thoughts clouded through being rudely awoken by JARVIS announcing the arrival of his, at this moment in time, least favourite brunette. The elevator dinged softly as she appeared behind the door, dressed in her old navy uniform that he had custom made for her, a heavy looking bag slung over her shoulder and tears staining her face.

"Now I am aware as to why you're in my house at three a.m in the morning." He stated, asking no further questions as he dimmed the lights in the room for her. "Chris take it okay?" She nodded against his shoulder as he brought her in for a hug, "Really?"

"He just seemed glad to see his little girl" Jennifer shrugged. She wasn't overly happy about handling her back over especially after having her live with her for so long,"I guess I had her away from him too long." She laughed, "Besides you said your door is always open for your favourite freak - no matter the time."

Tony rolled his eyes as he handed her a glass of scotch, "How did you get here from D.C?" He asked, "It's at least a three ho-" He chuckled, "You flew here."

"You bet your ass I flew here," She laughed. She had loved the trip over the night sky across the States. She could get to places faster than any commercial jet could, in minutes instead of hours. "Made friends with Air Traffic Control to, they apparently weren't very happy with me just randomly cruising on by."

Tony laughed, "Now I imagine you wanna know everything that JARVIS pulled up on this guy and drink my expensive scotch huh?"

Jennifer smirked taking a sip of her drink, "Why else would I be here at 3 a.m?"


	2. Chapter 2

'Nothing worth fighting for ever comes easy'

Somewhere over the U.S

Jennifer sat cross-legged in the back of the jet, the pile of S.H.I.E.L.D files that Maria had left spread out around the cot that she rested on. She had been met by her two pilots that morning, meaning she wasn't allowed to fly hence the frown that had been on her face the entire way. She huffed before looking back down at the files: an assassin, a green rage monster, a pain-in-the-ass in a metal suit, the superman from the 40's and her - against a demi-God, an astrophysicist and an expert marksman? Seemed fair. She rolled her eyes closing over Tony's file before picking up her own.

"Gregor.." She called out to her old co-pilot, who quickly looked over his shoulder at her with his brow raised, it had been the first time she had spoke up in an hour or so, "How long before I am able to stand up without stumbling?"

Gregor chuckled amused, "About fifteen minutes there Jennifer,"

She groaned, "The only person who calls me Jennifer is my mother, and unless you're a hag in disguise I suggest you better call me Fletch"

Gregor only laughed louder at her playful threat. She smirked flipping open her own file, she screwed her face up as she read over the tag on her file;

Agent ID #221JSF009  
Status: Alive  
Alias: Skylight  
D.o.B 04.14.1986  
Risk Level 5

She raised her brow. Level 5 meant she was something of an extremely high treat. She frowned, there was no real explanation that she could come to for as to why she was ranked so highly - she wasn't exactly Banner. She shook her head letting it go for a moment as she clipped her credentials to the lapel of her jacket.

"Guys.." She questioned, the pilots giving her a hum in response. "Would you say I'm a level 5?"

"Well." Gregor thought for a moment, "When you think about it Fletch, you can almost create a supernova within your body so..." He could feel the heat radiating from the back of the jet as she scowled at him, "Easy Fletch, we're here."

Jennifer sighed pushing herself up from the cot as she reached for the handle of her tatters bag that she had almost forgot in Tony's office that morning, considering she had just crashed on his couch knowing Maria would tell them that she was there. She tucked her gun back into the holster at her side as she stepped out of the jet, instantly smiling as the warm sun hit her pale skin. She covered her eyes with her arm cursing the fact that she hadn't bothered to bring sunglasses with her.

"Fletch." She turned to look over her shoulder smiling as she noticed Natasha standing behind her with her hands clasped behind her back. "It's good to finally have you back without a screaming infant attached to your leg."

"Ha ha.." Jennifer smirked, "You know you love Andie.." Natasha rolled her eyes but continued to smile. "Please tell me there is a plan in here somewhere because these agents really need to stop staring at me."

Natasha laughed, "Retrieve Captain Rogers and Dr Banner -" Natasha shivered slightly, "Then report to Fury."

Jennifer looked at Natasha amazed, "Holy shit!" She laughed, "He sent you to get Banner?"

"How'd you guess?" Natasha asked, as they made their way across the landing strip.

"Your face said it all Nat." She replied as the approached the man who was staring, rather calmly, over the edge of the carrier down at the water below. She smiled as he turned to face them, sporting his thin-rimmed glasses and deep purple shirt. "Dr. Banner," She extended her hand to him, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, I've read your paper on gamma induced mutation -" She babbled thinking about her own procedure that mirrored parts of his thesis. "You're work is amazing."

Bruce's eyes widened as he recognised the slightly shorter woman in front of him. "You're Jennifer Fletcher?" She nodded causing him to grin. "Finally!" He exclaimed, "It's me who should be honoured to meet you! You helped me further my studies," He beamed, "It is good to have someone like you on board."

She arched her brow at his statement, it had been so long since she had heard someone talk to her so fondly as if she was some sort of wonder. However, she didn't have time to respond as Natasha cleared her throat nudging Jennifer in the side to bring her attention elsewhere, more specifically to the tall blonde walking towards them. She sighed happily to herself as she watched him take everything around him in, even though the last time she had seen him he had ended up giving her quite the shiner, and a few broken ribs, she still couldn't help but feel slightly giddy at the sight of him.

"Captain Rogers," She spoke up catching him off guard, however she raised her brow slightly as his brows furrowed and he frowned. "Wow. I don't think I've ever seen somone look so unhappy to see me aside from mom.."

"Ma'am," He spoke up, his voice making her stand a little straighter as he shook her hand gently. "I am-"

"If you are going to apologise for what will be roughly around the umpteenth time Captain," She laughed, "I can assure you it's not necessary,"

"I threw you through a wall.." Steve deadpanned looking down at her, he couldn't understand why she was still so happy to see him.

Jennifer batted the air, "Details."

"They let you carry a weapon?" Bruce suddenly questioned having noticed the gun holstered at her side. He didn't mind the fact, he was simply curious.

"They don't really have a choice in the matter." She replied with a meek shrug, "It's more of a protection kind of thing."

Bruce nodded slightly before looking up to Steve. "They told me you were coming Super Soldier."

Natasha nudged Jennifer in the side with a smug look on her face causing Jennifer to nudge her back warningly, "Shut up.."

"Word is you can find the cube?" Steve questioned crossing his arms across his chest.

"Is that the only word that's going around?" Bruce asked looking between the three of them.

"The only thing I care about," Steve replied politely as the remaining group of trainees finished their last lap around the landing strip.

"Gentlemen," Natasha spoke up, seeing the pilots beginning to secure the jets. "You may want to take a step inside, it's about to become quite hard to breathe."

"Is this a submarine?" Steve asked as both men looked over the edge of the deck interested.

"Really?" Bruce asked amused, "They want me in a small submerged pressurised metal container?" He laughed looking over the edges yet again, letting out a small gasp as the engines began to kick in the water draining out from beneath as they rose out of the water. "Oh.." He sighed, "This is much worse."

Natasha smirked slightly, "Follow us please," She instructed as she turned to walk away. Jennifer laughed as she swung her bag up higher on her shoulder before following Natasha, with both Steve and Bruce following close behind, she laughed slightly as she heard Bruce mention her being thrown threw a wall and Steve muttering something about baseball.

"You alright there Captain?" Jennifer questioned looking over her shoulder at the man as they entered the main control room where the majority of the tech crew had begun checking the helicarrier systems.

He shrugged looking down at her rather guiltily, "Yes ma'am."

Maria turned to look over her shoulder smiling as she noticed Jennifer, "Fletch," She spoke up catching the brunettes attention. "I'm glad you came."

"Agent Fletcher," Fury suddenly spoke up staring down at her. "Welcome back.."

"Thank you.." She replied with a small shrug watching as Steve leaned forward to hand him $10, "I guess."

"Miss Romanov," Fury spoke up again, "Will you show Dr. Banner to his lab?"

"C'mon Doc.." Natasha smirked gesturing for him to follow her, "We've got all the best toys."

With them out of earshot, Fury turned back to Jennifer as she stood a few feet away from him. Steve stood again a few feet behind her watching her intently as he addressed her. "Agent Fletcher," Fury stated, however chuckled slightly as she rolled her eyes, "Fletch," He tried again, "I know that the last year has not been easy-"

"Fury." Jennifer stopped him, "I don't need the sympathy tag line." She replied, "I am here to do my job and make sure this whack-job doesn't cause some damage. I just paid off my truck so I kinda like my life right now"

He smirked, "Very well Fletch.."

* * *

The control room fell into silence as they continued their search for off the chart energy signatures that they could trace back to the Tesseract. Jennifer sat with her knees pulled up to her chest at one of the empty tables towards the back, her cell in her hands as she quickly scanned through her texts from Chris, giving her updates on Andie - like she'd asked. She hadn't moved in about two hours, but she was perfectly content, she had spent her time watching various agents stress themselves over and over again when their searches came back with nothing and the ones who gave up for five minutes to crack out the Sour Patch kids they had in their drawers. Although now she was watching Phil stare at Steve as if he was some sort of anomaly - Well, she couldn't blame him.

"I mean if it's not too much trouble," Phil said with a smile. Jennifer snickered under breath knowing that for the last half an hour he had been explaining every detail of his trading card collection that she had been shown hundreds of times.

"No." Steve replied smiling. Jennifer smiled, at least he was still as polite. "It's fine." He cast a quick glance over to her, "Excuse me." Jennifer watched with her eyebrow raised as he walked over to her, she smiled knowing that there was a possibility that she was about to receive another apology. "May I ?" He asked gesturing to the empty chair across from her.

"Be my guest," She replied as he sat down across from her. "Bored hearing about the collection huh?" He chuckled nervously, "Something the matter Captain?"

"Steve." He corrected causing her to look at him surprised. "Don't look so surprised ma'am, you've called me Steve plenty of times before."

She smiled. "I guess you're right Steve," She tested, "You need to at least call me Jennifer or Fletch then," He frowned, "I can't do the whole ma'am thing,"

"My apologise ma'am," He replied. She groaned slightly as she felt her cheeks heat up a little, she turned her head slightly so he couldn't see her, although, he did. "I am sorry." He spoke up, "You have to know that."

"Steve." She sighed, "For the last time, it was an accident." She explained, "You woke up in some strange room with some girl telling you that you were still in the 40's."

"I kicked you through a wall." He stated again.

"By accident." She tried as he just gave her a look. "Okay, yes you put me through a wall - didn't kick me though that was the door that you kicked.." He laughed slightly. "You were scared, that's alright. You didn't hurt me too much."

"I read the incident report." He replied. She paled. "Three broken ribs, dislocated both shoulders, fractured wrist, a nice shiner and a concussion." He remembered, the guilt swimming around his head. She sighed at him as she reached across the table to rest her hand over his, the move making his breath catch in his throat.

"Accident." She stated firmly smiling at him. Jennifer had been in charge of checking up on him following bringing him back to the base from the craft that he had crashed into the water, she had spent every day going in and out reading him the paper even though he was strictly supposed to be under the 40's guise, after time she would even be updated by the nurses on her day off about his progress. The day he woke up, she was fixing the radio for him. He called her bluff and before she knew it the alarms were wailing above her head, he was gone and she had been punted through the wall.

"Did you ever finish listening to the commentary?" He asked, she looked at him confused. "The game?" She smiled, "Yankees?"

"I didn't finish listening to it actually, I was too busy trying to figure out why I had been punted through the wall." She teased. Steve frowned, "One of these days Steve, you've got to let it go." He grumbled, "Hey. Wanna make it up to me?" He nodded, "Let it go and listen to the rest of the commentary with me."

Before Steve could even answer her to ask for a time and place or even ask her to read for him again, the control room was sent into a frenzy as one of the agents hopped up from his desk. "We got a hit! Sixty-Seven percent!"

Jennifer shot out of her chair as she hopped down over the barrier without a glitch to stand behind him. "Are you sure?" She questioned, "We need a hundred."

"Cross match-" He stated continuing to stare down at the screen, "Seventy-Nine percent" He reported, "Location - 28 Konigstrasse. Germany." He turned to Jennifer. "He's not exactly hiding."

"You've got that right." Jennifer groaned rubbing her face annoyed, "Good job.." She told the agent who smiled at the praise. "We need to figure out what the hell he is trying to do."

"Captain." Fury instructed. "You're up." Steve nodded before disappearing out of the room, she assumed to find that ever so lovely spandex number. Fury turned to her. "Fletch. Pilot with Natasha. Things go south you know what to do."

"Got it." She replied grabbing her bag from under the chair before disappearing off down the corridor until she came to her old bunk room. Still as ugly and plain as it used to be. Her code was even the same. She threw the bag down on the bed yanking her navy suit out of the bag, she was still glad - even though it was as clingy as Nat's - Tony had made her a suit that wouldn't burn up around her. She tugged on her seemingly heavy black boots before throwing her belt around her waist ensuring to holster up her gun.

She sighed to herself resting her hand on the door-frame. "Well this is going to be a real treat."

* * *

S.H.I.E.L.D N.Y.C Base  
Two Years Earlier

Jennifer stood staring in the mirror at her reflection trying to make her mind up if she looked more like a pin-up girl or a pure excuse for a Halloween costume, ever since they had brought Captain Rogers back to the states, she had been put on 'nurse' duty but of course that meant she had to go to and from work looking like she had stepped out of the 1940's. She furrowed her brows as she attempted to tuck her white blouse back into the khaki coloured pencil skirt - she wasn't one fore the whole skirt and shirt uniform.

"Agent Fletcher?" Carolyn, the head nurse, poked her head in through the restroom door, "You can go back in now if you'd like?" The older lady smiled seeing the sudden spark that appeared in her eyes. "The key code is -"

"33452894." She rhymed off with a small blush, "I know.." She grabbed her badge from the counter and clipped it to the waistband of her skirt. "Thank you for letting me stay longer today Carolyn.."

"Don't worry about it sweetheart," Carolyn smiled watching as Jennifer hurried off back down the hall.

Keying in the code, she stepped inside the room letting out a small sigh before going straight back into her routine. She dragged a chair over to his bedside, kicked one leg over the other and threw open the newspaper. "Alright Steve," She smiled, "Wait is it okay if I call you Steve?" She looked down at him, "Okay, of course, you're unconcious you don't care." She flipped through the newspaper trying to find something interesting for him, "I wish I could read some of this to you but it's a whole bunch of garbage honestly." She threw the paper off to the side before reaching up to switch on the stereo, "I bet you're sick of this song as well- I'll just stick your game on how about that.." She pushed herself up from the chair to go root through the drawer full of tapes to find one of the more interesting baseball games, considering she had listened to them all a hundred times before - completely unaware of the bright blue eyes that were following her around the room.

"I remember that game." He finally spoke up having taken enough time to take in the room, and to take in her. He watched as she nearly jumped out of her skin and almost dropped one of the frames that she held in her hand.

"Oh my good God," She whispered suprised as she noticed him sitting up looking at her with his eyebrow riased, "Good morning Sir, it's a great game right?"

"I remember that game because I was there." He told her causing her to gulp inwardly she just faked a smile and carried on.

"Are you sure?" She asked, "I mean it is 194-"

"Who are you?" Steve asked, "-Where am I?" She was visibly panicking considering if he stood up he was more than double her height and probably triple her strength - and she was in heels for crying out loud. "Ma'am don't make me ask again," He didn't want her to be scared of him.

"My Apologies Captain Rogers," She smiled slightly, "You're in a recovery room in Manhattan Sir, New York City,"

He looked over at the radio then back to her, "Where am I really ma'am?"

"I'm afraid I don't understand.." She questioned as she hit the small button on the inside of the wrist-cuff she was told to wear, now the S.H.I.E.L.D staff should be alerted to something having gone wrong. She watched as he stood up from the bed easily towering over her. "Captain-"

Before she had time to register anything, having taken some steps towards him, Jennifer found herself on her back surrounded by the debris from the wall around her. Her breathing came out laboured as pain radiated everywhere over her body. "Oh my god." She panted out, "Just because of baseball."


	3. Chapter 3

'So. Why Spandex?'

S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier

Jennifer found herself hanging around the bay-doors that led into their jet, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for Natasha and Steve to join her. The crew around her raced around as quickly as they could fixing the fuel, the controls, the co-ordinates, everything that she could have done already, although she knew they wanted it done 'professionally' to appease Fury even though she was more than qualified. Natasha appeared at her side with a small trace of smile to greet her.

Jennifer sighed slightly, "He's going to be fine." She assured knowing that somewhere inside the red-head was worrying for her friend. She simply nodded before disappearing into the jet without a word, although she didn't expect anything different. She knew fine well that if it was her best-friend that was in danger that she would be the same.

Steve approached the hangar almost soundlessly, meaning Jennifer was none the wiser to the Super Soldier taking her in. He'd never be able to apologise enough for putting her through that wall, even though she told him it was an accident, he still felt responsible for causing harm to someone who only cared for him. He cleared his throat catching her attention, his cheeks heating up a little as he took in the expression on her face as she looked at him.

"Fletch! Rogers!" Natasha yelled from inside the jet. "Put your tongue back in your mouths so we can get out of here!"

Both Steve and Jennifer blushed as she quickly made her way inside the jet, heading towards the pit to elbow Natasha in the ribs. "Not funny."

"Carrier Alpha J220 to control." Jennifer stated holding in the small intercom on the dash. Steve stood leaning aginst the shallow suspension a mere few feet away from her watching them. He stood tense. He still wasn't exactly comfortable with flying. He doubted he ever would be. "We good to go here?"

"Control to Alpha J220. Good to go." The response came back over the coms. "Good luck."

Both women rolled their eyes as they put the jet into flight. Natasha took over the main controls as Jennifer spun around in her chair to check on Steve, only to gasp slightly when she realised how close to her he actually was. "Steve?" She asked quietly so not to embarrass him. "You alright?" He shrugged slightly. "They did a good job on updating the old suit there."

"I thought it was a little dated." He replied.

She shrugged. "With what is going on dated is good."

Natasha smirked as she looked out the corner of her eye to watch the pair of them. She knew how Jennifer felt about the Captain, having spent so much time tending to him. It was just nice to watch two super-serum enhanced soldiers be awkward together.

For just over an hour or so, the jet had fallen into a comfortable silence. Everyone was keeping themselves busy, be it checking co-ordinates or counting the bolts in the roof of the jet. The jet began to dip slightly as Jennifer pulled the controls to bring them down a little so he didn't have so much of a drop to make as they arrived to their destination.

"Cap." Natasha spoke up catching his attention away and effectively making him lose count. "You're up."

Jennifer looked over her shoulder as she lowered the bay doors for him, he grabbed his shield without any delay slipping it between the straps on his back. He gave them a quick glance before he dropped down out of their sight. She turned to Natasha who was watching her amused, "What?" She asked as she pushed the carrier back up above the crowd below them. "What are you smirking at?"

"You'd have beautiful children." Natasha laughed loudly causing Jennifer to rol her eyes as she looked down out of the window as Steve approached who she guessed to be Loki. Jennifer hit the intercom button watching the men almost go toe-to-toe. "Loki. Drop the weapon and sta-" Natasha spoke only to be cut off as both women pulled the jet controls to throw them out of the way as the ice-blue energy surged towards them. "Jackass."

"Clearly doesn't want to play nice." Jennifer commented as she stood up from her chair. She looked back to Natasha who grinned, "This counts as South right?"

"Off you go." Natasha commented taking over the controls again.

Jennifer smirked turning towards the bay-doors; she flexed her fingers gently feeling the adreneline kick in. She took a breath before stepping off the baydoors, feeling the air rush past her as she dropped down towards the ground. Before the ground seemed to be too close, the flames encased her body allowing her to float gently towards the ground. She flinched seeing Loki jab the sceptre into Steve's shoulders keeping him down to a crouch. She rolled her eyes before taking a few strides knocking the raven-haired man to the ground, his sceptre rolling off to the side.

Feeling the pressure disappear from his back, Steve shot back up - his eyes widening as he noticed the brunette crouched down from across the square her eyes locked on their target with the flames raging around her body.

"Now." Loki grinned taking the woman infront of him in, "What creation are you?"

"I'm a lab-rat." She smirked ducking down out of the way as the shield soared over her head knocking Loki back to the ground "Nice to meet you.." She reached out to grab the sceptre whilst he was down, only to have her legs collapse underneath her as Loki kicked his leg out catching her own. "Shi-" He cut her off by jabbing the blunt end of the sceptre into her sternum knocking the wind right out her.

Loki was suddenly half way across the square when she had managed to roll over onto her back, ignoring the pain of possibly some more broken bones. She let out a grateful sigh when she noticed Tony standing above her. "You alright?" He asked quickly. She nodded just as Loki went to move. Tony held his hand out to him threateningly, "Make your move reindeer game."

"Mr Stark." Steve commented making his way over to them as he wiped the blood away from his mouth.

"Captain." Tony replied.

"Not to ruin you're little moment here." She spoke up catching both men's attention. "Would someone mind helping me up here?" Steve reached out to clasp his hand around hers before gently heaving her up from the ground. "Thanks.." 

* * *

With everything dispersed from Germany and Loki hauled back into the jet, Jennifer found herself stood between Tony and Steve as Natasha piloted the jet back to the base, however she couldn't help herself but watch Loki, the man had been watching her and no one else since they had brought him on board, it was beginning to be a lot more than uncomfortable. "I'm really not enjoying his company." She said looking up to Tony who simply smirked looking over his shoulder at Loki. "I'm serious," She complained. "Why does he keep looking at me?"

"Pretty girl in a tight fitting suit." Tony replied. "I'd be looking too." Steve glared over at him before looking over at Loki as well. "How much gel do you think it takes to keep his hair looking like that?"

Jennifer laughed quietly, "Maybe some good hairspray."

"I don't like it." Steve spoke up.

"What his hair?" Tony questioned jokingly as Jennifer looked up at the blonde. "Or that he gave up so easily."

"I don't remember it being that easy." Steve mentioned watching as Loki's eyes suddenly jumped between them all, "This guy packs a whollop."

Jennifer nodded, "Tell that to my ribs," She replied, "I need to work out some more."

"Yeah." Tony commented, "'Though you're still pretty spry for an older fellow," He laughed looking up at Steve. "What'cha think? Pilates?"

Steve raised his brow confused, "What?"

"It's like calisthenics," Tony commented, "-but you did miss a couple of things-" Jennifer elbowed him in the side only to injure herself more than him. He was still in the suit afterall. "Doing some time as a capsical"

"Fury didn't tell me they were callin' you in." Steve shot back causing Jennifer to grin.

"Well." Tony commented. "Y'know there is a lot that Fury won't tell you."

Out of nowhere lighting cracked across the sky. Jennifer gulped slightly looking up at the sky through the panel in the roof. She wasn't the biggest fan of lightning. "Where did this come from?" She asked quietly.

"You okay there?" Steve questioned. She shook her head as he tentatively patted her back without much thought. "It's only a little storm."

"What's the matter?" Tony barked over at Loki who was looking around almost like he was paranoid. "Afraid of a little lightning."

Loki frowned, "I am not overly fond of what follows."

A thud echoed around the jet as something landed on the roof causing the jet to jolt slightly. Steve reached out for his shield, whilst Tony fixed his helmet back into place and Jennifer began to heat up. Tony opened the bay-doors taking a few steps towards them just as a tall Asgardian dropped down onto the door, a hammer in his hand.

"Big brother here to save the day." Jennifer commented as Thor reached out grabbing Loki by the shoulders before hauling out of the jet. "Or not.."

Tony sighed, "Then there's that guy."

"Another Asgardian?" Natasha piped up from the pit as she looked over her shoulder at them.

"Those guys friendly?" Steve questioned.

"Doesn't matter." Tony replied moving towards the bay doors once again, "If he frees Loki - or even kills him - the Tesseract is gone."

"Stark!" Steve called out, "We need a plan of attack."

Tony grumbled under his mask before turning back to them. "I have a plan," He stated. "Attack."

Jennifer groaned slightly as Steve reached out to grab a parachute, "Where do you think you're going?" She asked reaching out and grabbing one of the straps for his shield before hauling him back a few steps, "It's a heck of a way down."

"I'd sit this one out Cap." Natasha stated agreeing with Jennifer.

Steve shook his head gently removing Jennifer out of the way as she huffed at him, "I don't see how I can."

"Those guys down there come from ledgend. Stark is stupid enough to go after them." Natasha explained, "They are practically Gods."

"Ma'am there is only one God," Steve commented walking towards the still open bay-doors. "I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that.

Both women rolled their eyes looking at the empty space where Steve had stood seconds before. Natasha groaned, "Well, what are you waiting for Fletch?" Jennifer raised her brow at her. "Go on." She urged. "Go get lover boy."

Jennifer growled slightly, "You're lucky we're friends."

Without another word Jennifer took off in a sprint and leaped out of the jet, the flames quickly bursting out around her body as she dropped down towards the ground through the thick clouds. She watched Tony and Thor fly off down into the trees below, meaning she was falling faster than Steve, she locked her eyes on Loki who was lying on the edge of a cliff attempting to get up. She dropped down onto the cliff before digging her foot into his back keeping him firmly on the ground. "I'd stay still if I were you."

"You act so strong for a scared woman." Loki grunted out. "You allowed me to throw you to the ground and be beaten in order to save the Soldier from some form of harm. Pathetic."

"You know nothing about me." Jennifer stated not falling privy to his words.

"Don't I?" Loki chuckled.

"You act as if this is all just a game to you." She commented looking up as Steve dropped down under the tree line at last.

"Oh." Loki grined. "It is just a game."

Jennifer removed her foot from his back seeing the burn mark in the shape of her foot on the back of his leather jacket. She burnt the rubber of his boots into the ground to stop him going anywhere. She took one last look at him before stepping off the edge of the cliff down under the tree line narrowly missing the hammer that flew over her head. "Hey! Watch where you're throwing that thing!"

"Hey!" Steve spoke up having thrown his shield to seperate Tony and Thor from each other. "That's enough." He stated, "I don't know what you plan to do here-"

"I plan to put an end to Loki's schemes." Thor cut him off gruffly.

"Then prove it." Steve continued. "Put the hammer down."

"Umm no that's a bad idea." Tony spoke up. "He loves that-" Tony was cut off as Thor swung the hammer into his stomach sending him hurtling through a now line of broken trees.

"You want me to put the hammer down!" Thor barked as he launched himself up into the air just as Steve reached out throwing his arm around Jennifer's waist before holding the shield in front of them. Thor's hammer collided with the shield seconds later, the impact caused Thor to fly backwards through another line of trees and sent Steve and Jennifer back into a mound of roots and pine needles.

"At least it wasn't a wall this time." Jennifer commented as she pushed herself up from Steve's chest before flopping over onto the roots at his side.

Steve laughed slightly as the pair of them started to get up, only to end up reaching out to catch her as her legs caved in. "Easy."

"Are we done now?" She asked in a daze, "I could really go for like some coffee or even maybe a doughnut after all of that.."

"We're done." Tony commented as he made their way over to them. He looked between the two with his eyebrow raised as he noticed the Captain's arm was still wrapped around her waist. "What is this prom night?"


	4. Chapter 4

'Adopted huh?'  
S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier  
Somewhere above mainland USA

With everyone back safe and relatively sound back on the Helicarrier, the team sat huddled around the video transmission from the holding cell that had been designed to hold the Hulk, however it now held a slightly pissy God. Jennifer glanced up slightly to see Steve watching her as the small bruise on her cheek became more and more noticeable from her fight with Loki, she just smiled at him assuring him she wasn't hurt before looking back to the VT.

"Well..." Loki drawled, "It's an impressive cage, not built for me I don't think."

"No." Fury replied as he opened the cover to show the release button. "-made for something a lot stronger than you."

"Oh. I've heard." Loki commented, "A mindless beast that makes a play that he's still a man, how desperate are you?" He asked, "-to call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

Fury scoffed, "You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't control and you talk about peace yet you kill because it's fun." He smirked, "You might not be too glad that you did."

Loki smirked, "It burns you to have come so close, to have the Tesseract - to have unlimited power, and for what?" He asked, "A warm life for man-kind to shade in and then to be reminded of what real power is..."

Fury rolled his eyes as he begun to walk away, "Well, let me know if real power wants a magazine or something.."

Jennifer reached across the table to switch the VT off, knowing that no one really wanted to see Loki for much longer than they had to. He had already caused enough trouble.

Bruce stood up from the round table with an amused smirk on his face, "He really grows on ya' you know,"

Steve sighed crossing his arms over his chest, "Loki is going to drag this out," He looked over at Thor, who stood uneasy a few feet away, "What's his play?"

"He has an army." Thor commented, "The Chitauri, they are not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people and they will win him the Earth and in return for the Tesseract,"

"An army?" Steve questioned casting a glance over to Jennifer who bowed her head slightly with a small smirk, "From space?"

"So. He's building another portal." Bruce commented, "That's what he needs Erik Selvig for..."

"Selvig?" Thor questioned with peak interest, having recognised the name from his last journey to Earth.

"He's an Astrophysicist," Bruce commented,

Thor shook his head, "He is a friend."

"What I don't understand is why Loki let us take him in the first place," Jennifer spoke up pushing herself up from the table, "I mean it's not like he's leading the army from inside that cell."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," Bruce laughed, "That guys' brain is like a bag full of cats, you can smell the crazy on him."

"Have care of how you speak." Thor warned, "Loki is beyond reason but he is of Asgard," He defended, "And he is my brother."

Natasha raised her eyebrow as she looked over to the blonde, "He killed eighty people in two days,"

"He's adopted," Thor offered as if it was a decent excuse to separate the two. Jennifer - as much as she tried to contain it - burst out laughing, her hands gripped over her mouth as they turned to look at her amused as she tried to compose herself.

"I am so sorry." She gasped out between giggles, "That caught me off guard so bad.."

"I think it's about the mechanics.." Bruce offered taking the attention away from Jennifer as she tried to calm down. "Iridium, what do they need the Iridium for?"

"A stabilising agent," Tony stated as he walked into view, no longer sporting his iron-man get up, but a finely pressed navy suit instead, "-means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I. ," He walked over to Thor patting his arm hesitantly, "No hard feelings point break," He commented, "You've got a mean swing," He stepped up onto Fury's podium looking around for a second, "Also means that he can keep the portal open as wide and long as he wanted." Jennifer cleared her throat catching her friend's attention, "That man is playing Galaga!" Tony announced pointing over to one of the Tech-Analysts, "Thought we didn't notice but we did." He turned to Maria as if he hadn't said anything, "How does Fury even see these?"

Maria shrugged, "He turns,"

Tony sighed, "Sounds exhausing," He commented, "Rest of the raw materials Barton could get his hands on pretty easily with the only main compontent that he would need is a power source of a high energy density."

"When did you become an expert of Thermal Nuclear Astrtophysics?" Maria asked as Jennifer arched her brow at the men wondering how he knew so much when they had spent the night drinking his scotch and reading up on Loki.

"Last night." He replied, looking over to Jennifer, "You were asleep don't worry." Steve looked over at her confused. Why would she have been sleeping at Stark's? "The packet? Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked a little harsher than he intented which caught Jennifer's attention.

"He's got to heat that cube to at least 120,000,000 Kelvin to just break through the barrier," Bruce replied.

"Unless Selvig has already figured out how to stabilise the Quantum tunnelling effect," Tony threw back.

"Well," Bruce drawled, "If he could do that then he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet!"

Tony grinned, "Finally someone who speaks English!"

Steve turned to look at Jennifer who just smirked at the befounded look on the Captain's face. "Is that what just happened?"

Tony moved to shake hands with Bruce, "It's good to meet you Dr. Banner, your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled and I am a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into a green rage monster."

"Thanks?" Bruce replied unsure.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube," Fury correxted, "I was hoping you would join him."

"Let's start with that stick of his," Steve spoke up, "It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon."

Fury shook his head, "I don't know about that but it is powered by the cube. I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor shook his head confused, "I do not understand."

"I do" Steve said almost excitedly, Jennifer smiled knowing she had played the Wizard of Oz audio tape for him a couple of times during his 'sleep,' Steve smiled over at her. "I understood that reference."

"Shall we play Doctor?" Tony questioned ,

"This way then," Bruce replied as both men got up to disappear back down the hallways.

"Mind if I tag along?" Jennifer asked pushing herself up from the table, "I know a few things about radiation," She winked at Tony as she swirled the bright blue flames around her finger tips.

"Come on then pyromaniac," Tony laughed gesturing for her to follow them. Jennifer smirked walking past Steve as she squeezed his shoulder gently causing the older man to smile as she passed. "Easy now spangles!" Steve glared off in the direction that Tony had walked off in.

(Break Here)

With the three of them safe inside the lab, Tony secured the doors whilst Jennifer moved to open up one of the encrypted computers the lab-tech had left them. "The gamma readings are the same as the ones documented in Selvigs' notes," She commented not really tuning in to what Tony was rambling on about, "This should take weeks to process but with the help of a certain agent we got this down.."

She perked up hearing Bruce mutter something about New York and breaking Harlem? "Don't worry, I promise a stress free environment," Tony stated, "No surprises,"

Just like that he electrcocuted Bruce on the side with a mini cattle-prod. "Hey!" Steve barked from the door, his eyes darting over to Jennifer who had her hand clamped over her chest, "Are you nuts!"

"Jury's out!" Tony commented, "You really have a lid on that thing don't you?" He asked Bruce, "What is it? Jazz? Huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve questioned,

Tony shrugged with a small smirk, "Funny things are."

Steve took a step forward, clearly unamused, "Threatening the safety on everyone on-board isn't funny," He looked over to Bruce, "No offence"

Bruce sighed, "It's alright," He commented, "I wouldn't have come on-board if I couldn't handle pointy things,"

"You're tip-toeing big guy, you really need to strut." Tony piped up causing Jennifer to roll her eyes as she hopped up onto the counter top just behind Steve.

Steve frowed, "You need to focus on the problem."

"You think I'm not?" Tony scoffed, "Why didn't Fury call us in earlier? Why now? What isn't he telling us?" He fired off throwing the packet of blueberries over to Jennifer who was ready waiting to catch them, "Can't work out the equation until I know all of the variables."

"You think Fury is hiding something?" Steve asked.

Jennifer sighed catching the Solider's attention, "Steve think about it," She replied, "He's 'the' spy, his secrets have secrets." She gestured to all of them, "He spied on all of us, even Bruce."

Steve arched his brow, "Doctor?"

"-a warm light for all man kind, Loki's jab about the cube," Bruce spoke up as Steve nodded. Bruce looked over to Tony, "I think that was meant for you, even if Barton didn't tell him anything about the Tower, it is still all over the news."

"Stark Tower?" Steve asked, "That big ug-" Tony shot him a look, "Building in New York?"

"It's powered by Arc Reactor, self sustaining energy with the building able to run itself for well over a year." Jennifer commented.

Tony shrugged. "It's a prototype," He replied, "I am kind of the only name in clean energy right now."

"So, in a case of missing energy boxes," Jennifer smirked, "Why wait to bring them all in now,"

Bruce agreed with her, "I mean what are they doing in the energy business in the first place," He commented, "Probably should look into that-"

"Already on it," Jennifer piped up turning her computer screen round so that they all could see the decoding software, "As soon as our decryption software kicks in-"

Steve shot her a look. "I thought you were an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D?"

"I am" She defended not liking the way he was looking at her for one second, "However- This does not feel right - it is all just a little bit too fishy for my liking."

"JARVIS and Fletch have been working at it since we got back from Germany," Tony explained, "In a few hours we will know every dark secret that this place has ever had,"

Steve scoffed, "And you were worried about why they didn't want you around?"

Tony rolled his eyes, "An Intelligency agency who fears intelligence - historically not awesome."

"I think Loki is trying to wind us up," Steve commented, "This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused he could succeed." He looked straight at Tony, "We have orders and we need to follow them,"

"Well, following hasn't ever really been my style." Tony shot back,

Steve's demeanour changed and if she couldn't have guessed already, Jennifer knew that he wasn't too fond of Stark, "Oh." He drawled, "and you're all about the style aren't you."

Tony smirked, "Of all the people in this room, who is A) wearing a spangly suit and B) not of use?"

Bruce sighed, "Steve are you honestly telling me that some of this doesn't sound a little bit funny to you?"

"Just find the cube.." Steve muttered before walking out of the lab.

Jennifer shot Tony a look before walking off after the blonde, he wasn't walking so fast so she rounded the corner with the hope to catch up with him. "Steve!" She spoke up but he ignored her and just kept walking. "Ste- Come on Rogers! I will set your hair on fire and you won't eve- ooof" She gasped out as Steve spun around quickly sending her crashing into his chest. His arms shot out to secure round he rwaist to prevent her falling. "Wh-"

"Why are you following me?" Steve asked.

"I had you worried, now you've got me worried." She replied with a small smile, to which he returned, "Now, let's go see what they are hiding."

Steve smirked down at her before they continued their short walk to the end of the hall, where Steve pried open the secured door. Jennifer fiddled with her key card that would have opened the door to the lock-up, but she wouldn't deprive herself of watching him pry the door open. They snuck through the lower ground before pulling their way up onto the over-head walk-way. "You sure about this?" She asked,

Steve smirked, "Your computer could take some hours right?" She nodded, "Well we're gonna work faster,"

She smirked in return as she flipped herself over the metal railings as gracefully as she could to land in front of one of the crates. She raised her brow as she read the graph on front, she looked up to see Steve hovering over her - his face set like stone. "Did you know about this?" He demanded.

"No." She told him honestly, "I've been gone from this for a good year now - I left when you did." He sighed, "Don't you trust me?"

Steve sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he muttered quietly under his breath. "More than I should" All that Jennifer heard was his next sentence, "Let's get back,"

She nodded watching as he grabbed one of the weapons from the holder, "What are you doin' Steve?"

Steve huffed, "Proving a damn point."

(Break Here)

Jennifer and Steve walked back to the lab in silence, none of the agents that past them didn't seem to bat an eyelid as the pair passed, still donned in their suits and the mighty Captain America carrying a huge gun. Jennifer caught eyes with Steve as they walked, she cleared her throat softly.

"Steve," She muttered, "Do you really think that you should be waving that around?"

"Trust me," He replied with a small smile as she rolled her eyes, "It's not like you're the one carrying it Jennifer,"

Both of them curved round the corner to see Fury standing in front of Tony and Bruce, "What are you doing Mr Stark?"

"I've been kind'a wondering the same thing." Steve stated placing the weapon down onto the counter top with a thud.

Fury frowned, "You are supposed to be locating the Tesseract,"

"We are," Jennifer replied, "The model is locked and we're going through the signatures now," She smirked, "As soon as we know, you'll know."

Tony hummed to himself, "But-" He paused, "What is phase two I wonder?"

Steve and Jennifer both looked down at the weapon, "Computers were a lil' slow,"

"Fletch," Fury sighed, "We gathered everything we could on the cube but this doesn't mean tha-"

Tony cleared his throat as he turned the screen around to show the blueprints for what looked like missiles, "I'm sorry.." He laughed, "You were saying?"

Steve shook his head, "I was wrong director." He muttered, "The world hasn't changed a bit."

Thor and Natasha entered the lab looking between the remainder of their 'team,' "You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment Doctor."

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed." Bruce shot back,

Natasha shook her head, "Loki is manipulating you,"

Seeing the rage build up behind Bruce's eyes, Steve took a few steps over to Jennifer so that he was standing in front of her, shielding her from whatever could happen.

"And you're doing what exactly?" Bruce questioned angrily.

Natasha smiled, "You didn't come here just because I batted my eyelashes at you."

And I am not leaving just because you get a little twitchy." He snapped, "What I want to know is why S.H.I.E.L.D is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction?!"

"Because of him." Fury stated jabbing his thumb towards Thor.

Thor looked at the man in disbelief, "Me."

"Last year we have an arrival from another world who held a grudge, and destroyed a small town." Fury stated, "We learned that not only were we not alone, but we were hugely and hilariously outdone,"

Thor protested, "My people are at nothing but peace with your people!"

Fury shook his head, "You're not the only people out there though." He replied, "And you are not the only threat! The world is filling up with people who cannot be matched - they cannot be controlled."

Steve scoffed, "Like you controlled the cube?"

Thor took a threatening step towards Fury, "It was your work on the Tesseract that drew Loki to this world, and his allies! It is a signal to the other realms that the Earth is ready to face a higher form of war!"

"Higher form?" Steve muttered.

"They forced our hand," Fury stated, "We had to come up with something!"

"Nuclear deterrent," Tony scoffed, "'Cause that always calms everything down."

"Remind me how you made your fortune Stark?" Fury barked,

"I'm sure if Tony still made weapons he'd be neck deep-" Jennifer threw her hand up to cover Steve's mouth before he could finish his sentence. Steve's eyes jumped down to stare at her. She shook her head.

"Hold on." Tony protested, "How did this end up about me?"

Steve rolled his eyes as Jennifer moved her hand, "I'm sorry isn't everything?"

Thor laughed, "I thought humans were more evolved than this."

"Excuse me?" Fury questioned, "Did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"

Natasha took a step forward into the middle of the argument, to throw her cents into the party, "Are you boys really that naive? S.H.I.E.L.D monitors every potential threat!"

"Captain America and Skylight are on a threat list!" Bruce demanded in disbelief causing Steve and Jennifer looked at each other amused.

Jennifer cleared her throat, "Speaking of that." She started, "Someone want to tell me why I am such an extremely high threat?" Her temper was wavering, "I've been a glorified nanny for the past year and a half, the most terrifying thing about me is my time-outs."

"It's a precaution Fletch," Natasha warned.

"You're on that list," Tony mentioned to Steve, "Are you above or below the angry bees?"

"Precaution!" Jennifer scoffed, "Are you out of your mind Widow? I don't see you on a damn watch-list!" Natasha glared at her, "Oh what? Classified"

Steve looked at Tony angrily, "One more crack Stark-"

"Threatened!" Tony announced, "I feel threatened."

"I'll make you feel threatened in a minute Tony if you don't watch what you're saying!" Jennifer snapped.

Something had taken over their tempers.

Tony smirked, "What? Defending your little frozen boyfriend Fletch."

"You speak of control,"Thor laughed, "Yet you court chaos!"

"It's his MO, isn't it, I mean what are we - a team?" Bruce laughed sarcastically, "No. NO! We are a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're a time bomb."

"You need to step away." Fury warned.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam." Tony stated watching as Jennifer rolled her eyes at him as the flames began to twirl around her fingers.

"You know damn well why!" Steve snapped, "Back off."

Tony smirked getting in his face, "I'm starting to want you to make me."

"Yeah big man in a suit of armor take that off and what are you?" Steve laughed taking no notice of the threat.

"Genius. Billionaire. Philanthropist." Tony replied smugly.

"I know men with none of that who are worth ten of you." Steve shot back, "I've seen the footage, the only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on the wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

Tony scoffed, "I think I'd just cut the wire."

"Always a way out," Steve commented, "You know you may not be a threat but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero?" Tony asked, "Like you?" He took a step towards him, "You're a laboratory experiment, everything that's special about you came out of a bottle."

"And what?" Jennifer barked taking a few steps so that she was almost nose to nose with Tony, anger flared up in her eyes as the flames danced around her arms. "Everything that made me came out of a damn bottle - I was his damn experiment!" She jabbed her thumb at Fury, "You gonna tell me that there is nothing special about me huh Stark?"

"Agent Romanov," Fury instructed, "Would you escort Dr Banner back to his-"

"Where?" Bruce demanded, "You rented out my room."

"That cell was built as a precaution-"

"In case you needed to kill me," Bruce snapped, "-but you can't I know - I tried!" The team stopped arguing to stare at him, "I got low, and I didn't see an end, so do you know what I did? I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spat it out!" He yelled, "I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freakshow and put everyone here at risk."

Jennifer found herself slowly reaching for the gun that was holstered just inside her tall boots as Bruce took a step towards Natasha, "You wanna know my secret Agent Romanov, you wanna know how I stay calm?" He demanded. Jennifer slowly raised her gun from her boot.

"Dr. Banner," Steve stated as everyone noticed his hand now rested on top of the Scepter. "Put the scepter down.."

Sorry kids," Bruce said calming down a tiny notch, "You don't get to see my party trick"

Steve turned to look down at Jennifer who seemed to be shrinking in against him, "You alright?" He asked, she nodded up at him as she slowly tucked her gun back into her boot. "A gun really?"

"What?" She whispered, "It's a precaution."

"You located the Tesseract?" Thor asked.

Tony jumped in, "I can get to it quicker."

"I beg to differ." Jennifer shot back.

Thor protested, "The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it;"

"You are not going alone." Steve said gripping Tony's arm who had just stopped to look at him.

"Oh and you're stopping me." Tony laughed.

"I will." Jennifer confirmed stepping between the two of them.

Steve frowned, "Put on the suit and find out."

"I am not afraid of you." Tony replied, "Her-" He motioned to Jennifer, "Maybe - but you?"

"Put on the suit." Steve practically growled at him, making Jennifer look up at him through wide eyes.

"What-"

Before Bruce could manage to get the rest of his words out the room erupted into flames as en explosion ripped through the lab. The flames surrounded them all as Natasha and Bruce disappeared out of the lab window down towards the control room, Fury and Thor went down like logs and Tony, Steve and Jennifer went flying back against the wall.

"Jenn!" Steve rasped out panicked as he found the brunette lying beside him, her head tucked under her arm as she breathed slowly. "You alright?"

"Better than being kicked through a wall." She laughed pitifully, ignoring the fact that he seemed to have given her a new nickname. "Let's go.."

"Put on the suit." Steve grunted out hauling Tony up from the ground. "Come on Jenn."

"Right!" Tony and Jennifer replied in unison as they stumbled their way out of the smokey lab.


	5. Chapter 5

'Will you ever stop worrying me?'  
S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier  
Over Mainland USA

With all three of them back to being in their suits, they made their way through the smoking helicarrier hallway - Jennifer leading the way as she absorbed all of the heat coming out from the flames. Steve stayed as close to her as he could as he noticed her beginning to sport some ugly bruising down the side of her face and neck.

"Someone has got to get outside and fix that engine!" Fury said over their coms, "We're gonna go down without it." The three of them continued to push by the panicking workers as they tried to fix what they could, "Stark! Fletch! Did you hear that?"

"On it!" Tony replied as they got to the double junction that they were looking for. "Engine three -I'll get you there."

"Gotcha.." Jennifer replied dragging Steve down the other half of the junction as fast as she could get him to move, "Steve - I need to check that engine alright?" Steve kept a grip on her arm preventing her from leaving him. "Steve?" She asked, he was staring down at her as if that was the last time he was going to see her. "I'll be right back I gotta check on the-" An inhuman roar ripped through the air making their heads snap back down the direction they had came.

Bruce had gone green.

"Tony!" Jennifer yelled over the coms gasping seeing that half of the armor of the ship had been ripped off and was somewhere falling back down to the ground. "We're here!"

"Good." Tony replied landing down onto the collapsed control panels, "Let's see what we got, Fletch flame on and come help."

Jennifer smirked, "On it." She backed up a few feet smirking as Steve watched her carefully. She winked at him, "I got this -" She let out a huff of air as she took off running before throwing herself off of the broken walkway straight out into the open air. She smiled feeling the flames break out all over her body as she softly floated back up to meet Tony. "What you got for me?"

"We've got to get this super-conducting cooling sytem back online." He replied, she nodded using the heat from her flames to cut through the un-required metal allowing it to drift down to the ground over 28,000ft below, "-before we can access the rotors,"

Jennifer looked around at what they had to work with, "How do you suppose we do that?"

"By kicking our way in-" Tony replied without so much as a chuckle causing Jennifer to arch her brow at him, "I need you to get to the engine control panel and tell me what relay are in the overload position." He instructed over the coms to Steve, who just nodded understanding the gist of what he had to do. Jennifer looked over at him watching as Steve hauled himself over the broken barriers effortlessly, "You can ogle him later."

"Tone'" She questioned, "What's going on in that metal head of yours?"

"Leave it alone." Tony warned before going back to the coms, "What's it look like Rogers-" 'It seems to be run on some sort of electricity!' "Well.." Tony shot back, "You're not wrong."

"Tony, you can't just ignore me!" Jennifer yelled over the failing engines. "You talk to me right now - What are you five?!"

"No." Tony replied, "You're right I'm sorry.."

"Okay Tony, I get it - whatever." Jennifer rolled her eyes throwing off another piece of broken metal. She didn't believe that for one minute that Tony Stark would apologise to her.

Tony rolled his eyes at her, "I am trying to apologise to you Fletch," He told her, "Don't ruin it."

She smiled at him for a little bit before she nodded, "Thank you.."

"Just don't tell me that I have to put up with mini Cap's running around in the near future." Tony teased her as she flew underneath the broken engine.

"Are you out of your mind?!" She shrieked embarrassed as she felt her cheeks go red but not from the heat of her flames. "Why would you even think that?"

"I see the way you look at each other - it's kind of sickening.." He teased her as he passed her broken pieces of metal to hold onto for her to ultimately weld back into the main-frame.

"The-"

"The relay seems intact," Steve suddenly spoke up causing Jennifer's eyes to grow wide as she glared at Tony. He had heard the whole thing and found himself blushing at Tony's acusations.

"Oops.." Tony drawled chuckling watching as Jennifer threw away one of the pieces of metal, he groaned. "I needed that!" She smirked at him. "Even if we clear the rotors - this baby isn't gonna start moving without a jump - I'm gonna go in and push!"

Jennifer nodded laughing, "You're crazy!" She announced, "When that thing gets up to speed you'll be shredded. You're lucky if Steve can disengage the ma-"

"ENGLISH!"

Tony rolled his eyes, "See that red lever?" He asked, "It will slow the rotors down long enough for me to get out of the way without being shredded as Fletch so nicely put it." She smirked, "See that solitary panel hanging from the edge?" She nodded. "Get rid of it..." Jennifer gave a mocking salute as she dropped down through the air to grab the panel he had asked before letting it fall down with the rest of the metal she had thrown away.

"Nicely done Jenn." Steve commented having seen her fly around.

"Ooh.." Tony mocked as he continued to push the blades around, "Nicknames now.."

Jennifer raised her eyebrow as she noticed an agent fall from the wreckage, "Steve?" She asked, "What's going on?"

Steve grunted out dodging the gun shot from Loki's men, "Call back later."

"Engine one is down!" Fury snapped over the coms. "Fletch - get round there.."

She nodded seeing that the helicarrier was beginning to lurch towards the left, she took off soaring over to the other side to the other engine that was still in the middle of slowing down. She took in a deep breath before slipping down between the rotor blades before beginning to give it a good push, keeping it spinning as much as she could. "Tone!"

"Yeah?" Tony shot back as he did the same between the pair of them they kept the helicarrier from crashing down into the ground below.

"Are you dizzy-" Her laugh was cut short just as bullets bounced off of the rotor blades beside her, "What the f-" She curled up in a ball before throwing herself down out of the rotors, feeling herself drop a fair bit of the way she threw herself back up into the air towards the landing pad. "Barton is on board - he has a unit of uniforms with him-"

A good smack over the head caused her to drop down to her knee, she looked up to see the unit walking away from her. She struggled to lift her hands to throw a blast of energy at them, before she could - an arrow came spinning out of nowhere hitting her with an electro-pulse rendering her unconcious. "Agent Coulson is down -"

(Line Break Here)

Steve stood in what was left of the infirmary as the nurses busied around the rest of the injured agents, they were fixated on everyone else whilst he was fixated on the brunette that was fast asleep on the cot beside him. The nurses had given her a clean bill of health, the electro-shock from Barton's arrows had stunted her powers and rendered her unconcious, they had promised the blonde that she would be awake soon enough. He turned to the nurse, "Ma'am-"

"Captain Rogers, her vitals are the same as they were ten minutes ago - nothing has changed." She replied with a warm smile.

"Yeah Steve.." Jennifer smiled gently her eyes fixated on the blonde in front of her. She felt like she had been hit by a bus but it made her feel a lot better to see him at her bedside for a change. "You worried about little old me there soldier?"

"I am glad to see those eyes of yours open and not rolled into the back of your head," He smiled at her as he helped her to sit up in the cot, her back aching from where she hit the ground.

"Oh Miss Fletcher," The nurse smiled at ease seeing the agent awake and well, "Captain Rogers here brought you in - hasn't left your side for the last hour?"

She smirked looking up at Steve who was blushing, "An hour huh?"

Steve just smiled at her, "Wanna talk about baseball?"

* * *

Jennifer walked leisurely alongside Steve back towards the main control room, neither one of them said a word as they walked, they simply enjoyed knowing that the other one was safe and as far away from harm as they could manage to be with what had happened. They round the corner to see Fury throw down bloody Captain America playing cards onto the table in front of Tony.

"He had them in his pocket.." Fury muttered casting his eyes on Steve, "I guess he never really got a chance for you to sign them." He sighed, "Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract but I didn't put all my chips on that one, I was playing something more riskier - and Stark and Jennifer are aware of this - there was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could be someting more."

"The idea was scrapped before anyone could agree!" Jennifer snapped as Steve sat down beside her, his head bowed as he stared at the cards on the table.

Fury sighed at her, "-to see if they could work together so that when we needed them to they could fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea." He paused, "In heroes."

Tony jumped up from the table, his emotions unreadable, as he stormed off down the hallway. Jennifer sighed leaning into the back of her chair as Fury walked off. She rolled her head slightly to the right to look at Steve, "You alright?"

"You had me worried again.." He told her.

"It's nice to know that you care about me Steve," She told him with a small smile as they both stood up from the table following off down the same route that Tony had taken. They walked in complete silence yet again, which for both of them was comfort enough until they reached the open ground where Loki's cage had been, where Thor had been dumped. Jennifer stared off at the blood staining the wall.

"Was he married?" Steve questioned.

"No," Tony shook his head, "There was a celloist I think.."

"He seemed like a good man.." Steve murmured leaning against the metal railings,

Jennifer smiled, "He was a great man."

Tony scoffed, "He was an idiot."

Jennifer scowled at him, "Why?" She asked. "For believing in something? For believing in us?"

He shook his head, "For taking on Loki alone."

She frowned at him, "He was doing his job Tony-"

"He was out of his league," Tony interrupted, "He should've waited some someone - for something.."

Steve sighed, "Sometimes there isn't a way out Tony," He told him, "Is this the first time you've lost a solider?"

"We are not soldiers!" Tony snarled, "We are not marching to Fury's fife!"

"Neither am I," Steve shrugged, "He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does.. but right now we need to put that behind us and focus on getting this done" Jennifer smiled at him. "Loki needs a power source-"

"He made it personal," Tony cut him off, the idea clouding his vision as if it had hit him like a ton of bricks.

"That's not the point.." Steve stated.

"That is the point," Jennifer told him, "That's Loki's point. He hit us all where we live - Why?"

Steve crossed his arms across his chest, "To tear us apart?"

"Dividing conquers, great but he knows he needs to defeat us to win-" Tony added, "That's what he wants.. He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it - he wants an audience."

"Right." Steve nodded, "I caught his act in Stuttgart,"

"That was just the preview, this will be opening night - Loki is a full-blown diva. He wants flowers. He wants parades .." Tony rattled off, "Son of a bitch.."

The Son of a Bitch wanted to use Stark Tower.

Steve and Jennifer made quick work of locating Natasha and Clint in one of the small break-out rooms where she had left him to rest. "Time to go.." Steve instructed as soon as the doors opened.

"Go where?" Natasha questioned her eyes flickering to meet Jennifer's ensuring that the woman was alright.

"We'll fill you in on the way.." She replied casting a glance over to Clint as he walked out of the bathroom a towel in his hands, "Good to have you back.."

"You got a suit?" Steve asked. Clint nodded at the Captain. "Well suit up.."

"Are you feelin' better?" Jennifer asked watching as Steve moved to stand outside the door. He nodded, as she extended her hand out to him. "C'mon I don't bite.." He smiled at her allowing her to hug him tightly. "I'm glad you're okay.." She whispered, "Now suit up."

* * *

Jennifer walked through the hangar to where one of the jets rested with the bay door down, she quickly made her way around the corner to see Steve staring down at his shield. "Steve?" She questioned, he looked up at her with a vacant look."Are you alright there Cap?"

"Mhm.." He murmured, "I'm just - never mind.."

Jennifer sat down beside him nudging his shoulder so that he would look at her. "Y'know ... " She drawled, "You can talk to me, I'm harmless-" She paused, "Ish.."

"I just don't understand why after all this time and everything I have done to you -" He rambled, "That you still talk to me the same way.." He stammered blushing a little, "You look at me as if you have known me for centuries - when really you're pushing two years of me knowing you existed."

"Well," She sighed shrugging her shoulders at him, "I spent a lot of time getting to know Steve Rogers and Captain America ... It's nice being able to see both sides of you-" She smiled noticing Natasha and Clinton walking towards them, "Besides -" She stood up squeezing his shoulder. "It's not every day that you find someone who brightens your day without uttering a word to you."


	6. Chapter 6

'Next time, I'm driving...'  
Manhattan, New York City

The journey to New York seemed to last forever when really it only lasted minutes, no one seemed to know what to say as they flew into the havoc that was taking over New York City. Steve and Jennifer stayed back in the body of the quinjet whilst Clint and Natasha stayed up front to pilot their bird, every so often the blonde would turn to look at her watching as she kept her hands gripped around the straps above her head. She would smile every so often when she would catch him watching her and she couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about. He cast one last glance over at her as she threw her head back to let out a small sigh. She reminded him of Peggy, but something set them apart - something that he couldn't put his finger on.

"Guys..." Natasha spoke up catching their attention, "You might want to take a look at this.."

Both of them made their way to the cockpit to stare out of the window at the mess that was waiting for them outside, a bright blue beam of light struck the sky causing an oval to form in the sky. Loki had opened his portal. "Oh dear God.." Jennifer whispered.

"Stark, we're coming in at three on North East.." Natasha said over the coms. They took in the state of Stark tower. It was missing it's 'K.'

Tony scoffed, "What did you stop for drive-thru?" He asked sounding out of breath, "Swing up Park! I'm gonna lay then out for you!"

"Clint!" Jennifer yelled over the comotion outside, "Open the bay doors!" Steve's eyes shot to her as she bounced on her toes for a moment.

"Fletch-" Clint warned softly looking at her out of the corner of his eye,

"Do it!" She cut him off. He just sighed flicking a switch causing the bay doors to open slowly. "I'm gonna go see if I can clear the streets under that thing!"

"Be careful!" Steve yelled watching as she erupted into a mass of flames as she threw herself out of the quinjet just as they began to fire up at the Chitari.

"Tony!" Jennifer yelped over the coms as she ducked out of the way of a ruble. "I'll take fift-" Her voice caught in her throat as she took in the flames are burst out from the rotors of the quinjet as it started to spiral out of control, "Give me a minute and I'll be right there!" She dove down towards the jet as it almost hit the ground, she held up her hands taking in the blast from them hitting the ground. "Are you alright?!" She yelled as they stumbled out of the bay doors. "Clint I thought you said you could fly!"

Clint raised his brow at her, "Not the time."

"We're fine," Natasha confirmed as there was a roar echoing from the portal above their heads. Looking up they stared as they watched the metal beast emerge from the portal, "What the hell is that?" She murmured watching as the thing flew over their heads, with Chitari warriors being launched out of the ports on the side.

"Stark." Steve asked over the coms, "Are you seing this?"

"Seeing.." Tony replied, "Still working on believing." He paused, "Has Banner shown up yet?"

Steve arched his brow, "Banner?"

Jennifer sighed, "He isn't here Tony-" She didn't get to finish her sentence as she grabbed onto the straps over Steve's shoulder as Natasha grabbed her pulling them in behind an overturned cab as the army of aliens around them began to fire.

Clint gestured down to a broken down bus a few yards away, "We've got civilians trapped.." He trailed off as we looked up at the wave that flew over us, the one leading them looking very familiar. "Loki,"

Explosions and flames began to pop up almost sparadically down the main street as herds of New Yorkers fled the buildings in a mad panic trying to find somewhere safer to be. Steve caught their attention, "Permission to barrell down there?"

"Your seriously asking permission?" Jennifer asked amused as both she and Natasha grabbed their guns, both women firing off at the Chitari army knocking a few of them to the ground. "I'll cover you." She offered as Natasha gave her a look, even with them being in the middle of a fire-fight the redhead still gave her that knowing look.

"You think you can hold them off?" Steve questioned directed towards Clint, the archer smirked pulling a new arrow from his quiver.

"Captain." He replied smirking, "It would be my honour."

"Lets go Cap!" Jennifer instructed as they both dove out from behind the overturned cab as Clint and Natasha took over. "You get down there and I'll meet you there-" Steve nodded watching as she kept her eyes trained on the incoming wave of Chitari that were about to fly over their heads, he didn't even move a muscle when she shot up in the air like a pistol grabbing the edge of their craft before sending it hurtling back through the three that followed resulting in them falling to the ground in a mass of blue flames. "Steve?" She questioned, he hummed at her. "Stop staring and run!"

"Yes ma'am!" Steve replied as he took off 'barrelling' down the street with Jennifer flying directly above him keeping an eye out for any stragglers.

"Steve!" She warned over the coms even though he could hear her from above, "Two on your left and one-" She thrust her arm forward as the energy shot off from her hand knocking the other alien out of his way, "One was on your right.." Without noticing the one that had been climbing the other side of the building, she was shot into the windows of the building she was flying along next to, she managed to grip onto the window frame as the shattered glass rained down on her. "Come on..."

"Jenn!" Steve yelled up at her.

"GO!" She yelped as she felt the glass nick at her skin. "Move it soldier-" Just like that she shot off again following him down the street until he landed on the roof of the waiting cop car.

"You're going to need people in those buildings - there are people inside and they are going to need some help." Steve ordered, "-get people off the streets, take them to the basements or to the subway, just keep them off thes street. We need to set a permieter as far back as 39th."

Jennifer smirked, "And that's why he's a Captain.."

"Why the hell should I take orders from you?" The cop questioned as two aliens landed on each side of Steve, without missing a beat he threw his shield out in front of him to get rid of his opponents. "I need men in those buildings! Get the people off the streets and we need a perimeter back to 39th."

"Head back up towards the top Cap'" Jennifer said as she touched down onto the ground beside him as he took a deep breath. "We're better off working together up there," He nodded, "We need a game plan." He arched his brow as she smirked at him, "Want a lift?"

"Nope." Steve shook his head adimently, "No way in-" Before he was able to finish another sentence Jennifer had hooked her hands around the straps on his suit before the pair of them were in the air, as if the Captain was virtually weightless to her. "JENNIFER!"

"Oh come on Cap." She smirked as she gently set him back on the ground allowing him to throw his shield as it bounced off of a few aliens before spinning back to her notcing that her flames had disappared. "Live a little!" She grabbed one of their weapons from the ground and began firing.

"New toy?" Natasha laughed as she watched the brunette fire of another round from their weapon.

"Mhm!" Jennifer laughed in return, "It's pretty nifty -"

A streak of lightning shot down from somewhere at a great height, electrocuting the Chitari that were beginning to surround them. Thor touched down onto the ground before stumbling into a dented car clutching his side as he stumbled around. Jennifer took off towards him as he pushed himself up.

"Are you alright?" She questioned seeing the obvious pain on the his face as she hooked her arm under his taking some of the weight from him,

"I am quite alright Miss Skye-" Thor commented, lying through his teeth. "War wounds will fade," He spoke softly, "Unlike the lives already lost today.."

Steve took a hesitant step forward, "What's the story upstairs?"

"The power surrounding the cube is inheritable," Thor replied as Tony touched down to the ground joining them on the, for the most part, stable fly over.

"Thor's right," Tony interrupted, "-we gotta figure out a way to deal with these guys down here first."

Natasha hummed, "How do we go about this?"

Steve smirked looking between them all, "-as a team."

"I have unfinished business with Loki," Thor spoke up.

Clint scoffed, plucking an arrow from his quiver, "Year? Well get in line.."

"Save it." Steve interrupted, "Loki is probably gonna want to keep this fight based on us and that's what we need, without him these-" He looked up unsure, "Things ... could run wild."

"Isn't that what they are already doing?" Jennifer questioned, before turning to Thor. "Whilst you're here-" She pointed up at the metal beast that soared over there head, "What is that?"

"They are Leviathans.." He explained looking at the beast less than favourably.

"We've got Stark up top, Jenn's covering m-"

Steve's orders were cut off by the roar of a motorbike engine drawing up beside them, the team let ut a sigh of relief seeing Bruce - unharmed and in clothes that were slightly too big for him - "This seems horrible." He commented.

"I've seen worse.." Natasha stated as Bruce sighed muttering a small apology to the red-head, "No," She shook her head, "We could use a little worse."

Jennifer spoke up over the coms, "Tony." She smiled, "He's here."

"Banner?" Tony questioned.

"Nah.." She quiped laughing, "The Tooth-Fairy.."

"You better tell him to suit up.. I'm bringing the party to you." Tony commented as he came barrelling round the side of the office building with a Leviathan cruising in right behind him.

Natasha sighed, "I fail to see how that's a party."

Jennifer nodded, "More like a run and scream kind of party." Her attention turned to look at Bruce who began stalking towards the Levithan that was crashing through cars. "Dr Banner..." She spoke up. "You might wanna get angry."

Bruce smirked at her, "That's my secret Fletch.." He told her, "I'm always angry.."

The team watched in pure amazment as in a matter of seconds Bruce had morphed into the green range machine known as the Hulk. He turned on his side throwing his arm out as the Levithan curled up into the air - it's tail coming over first - it was about to crash down onto them. Steve hooked his arm around Jennifer's waist yanking her to his chest as they rolled behind an overturned car, Clint and Natasha did the same just as the beast crashed down to the ground. Jennifer looked up at Steve noticing he had his eyes screwed shut, she moved to rest her clammy hand against his cheek noticing as soon as she touched him his eyes shot open.

"You're alright Steve," She told him listening as the Chitari army let out a god-awful screech at them for killing their beast. She pushed herself up from her position curled in the Captains lap before extending her hand to him. "Come on, before these guys get even more pissy-"

"Yes ma'am," Steve replied allowing her to 'pull' him up from the ground, both of them taking in the chaos that was raging around them as more and more came through the portal.

"Call it Captain." Tony stated as they all stood in a huddle awaiting their orders.

"All right listen up!" Steve instructed, "Until we can close up that portal our main goal is containment. Barton, I want you up on that roof - eyes on everything - Stark, you've got the perimeter, anything gets more than three blocks you turn it around or turn it to ash."

"Give me a lift?" Clinton asked looking at Tony.

Tony smirked behind his mask as he gripped the straps to Clints uniform, "Better clench up Legolas."

"Thor." Steve instructed, "You've gotta try bottleneck that portal - slow them down - You've got the lightning. Light the bastards up."

Jennifer looked at Steve amused, "Language.."

Steve rolled his eyes at her as he looked over at Natasha, "You and me, we stay on the ground. Keep the fighting here." She nodded as the Captain looked up to the Hulk," And Hulk... Smash."

Jennifer arched her brow wondering why everyone else had orders bar her, "What?" She asked, "Want me to stand around and look pretty?"

"Jenn.." Steve started.

"Look I know you think I am less experienced than everyone else here but god damn it Rogers I pulled your ass out of that ice now give me some damn orders or you're gonna have another problem to add to your list." Jennifer cut him off the flames bursting out over her skin. Natasha stood not to far behind Steve with a shit-eating grin on her face.

"Flame on?" Steve offered in that moment concerned to say anything else to the brightly lit woman. He watched as the her lips quirked up into a small smile.

"Gotcha.." She smirked at him before she shot off into the skies above them taking out a Chitari chariot whilst she was at it.

Steve looked over to Natasha, who was smirking at him with a knowing look. "What?"

She just laughed, "You just missed your opportunity to kiss a really angry spitfire who is totally into you.."

Steve looked at her wide eyed, "She's what?!"

* * *

Jennifer made quick work of flying alongside Tony as they attempted to take out as many soldiers as they possibly could from up in the air. The pair had started to make a game out of it keeping tally on who had taken out the most. Tony made quick work of nudging Jennifer a few feet out of the way as debris came falling down towards them from the Leviathan they were currently chasing.

"A little warning next time!" Jennifer yelled over the coms. She could feel the look Tony was giving her through his mask and she laughed, "Thank you Tone'"

"Your welcome ma'am!" Tony teased causing her to throw a flaming ball towards him. "Oh come on!"

Jennifer laughed as she knocked a few soldiers down from the office building they had latched onto. "Sent with love Iron Man!"

"Bite me Skylight!" He yelled back at her, their laughter making their day seem a lot better than it was about to get.

"Okay children!" Clint laughed over the coms, watching the pair from the roof, "You've got three stragglers on your tail-" Tony turned on his back to look at them before firing off three separate missiles at them. "Had-" Clint rolled his eyes, "Thor is taking down a Squadron on 6th and Cap is at the subway on 39th.."

"I take 6th, you take 39th?" Tony asked, Jennifer rolled her eyes, "Go save lover boy.."

Jennifer broke off from Tony ducking down to street level heading straight towards the semi-broken doors that led into Central Station. She threw her hands up over her head as she braced, "This is going to hurt-" She held her breath as she burst through the doors, wood and glass splintering around her. She came to a halt in a crouch as she looked up at the New Yorkers around them. "Sorry about that-"She smiled before looking up to see Steve and the Chitari dangerously close to the mezzanine above. "Move off to the sides!" She looked up again to see one of them being thrown off the ledge by a blast which meant that Steve had either been flung against the wall or out the win- "Shit." She shot off over the mezzanine and straight out the window to see Steve down on the roof of the car that was just under the window. "Double shit."

She drifted down to the ground, the flames extinguishing around her as she climbed up on top of the car to sit by him. "Hey soldier," She smiled brushing his hair off of his sweaty forehead without thinking, Steve looked up at her through half-dazed eyes, "We gotta stop meeting like this.."

"I promise I won't kick you through the door this time." He chuckled. Natasha's information was swarming around his head as she looked down at him taking in any injuries that he had substained during the fall. He desperately wanted to ask.

"C'mon Cap," She urged hopping down from the car with her hands up ready to steady him. He huffed to himself as he dropped down to stand in front of her. "What?" He just stared. "Steve?"

"Do you-" He just shook his head. Now wasn't the time, nor the place. "Let's get going.."

She looked up at the tower to see the Hulk smash through the window. "I'll catch up with you in a sec," Before Steve could even respond she had shot off towards the tower. She smashed through the semi-broken window just to see the Hulk walk off having smashed Loki into the ground. "Well that was brutal.." She walked over to where Loki lay embedded in the ground. "How you doin' down there?"

"You are infuriating.." Loki grunted out. Jennifer laughed crouching down beside him. "I can see why your mother did not want you.."

Her face paled, "Excuse me?" She asked.

"Barton likes to talk.." He replied through laboured breaths. "Two sisters abandoned by their mother, both sign up to protect the world. One ends up in a body bag and the other one - well the other one pines after a super-soldier.." He chuckled, "Worthless."

She stared down at him, "Well.. Yeah, we are worthless - to her." She confirmed, "To the rest of the world, to the people I care about - whether it be some blonde from the forties - I'm worth a shit ton more than you are.." She stood up abruptly. "Enjoy whatever hell awaits you when your brother drags you back to Asgard.."

She turned to walk back towards the window to go to help Natasha as he spoke again, "He will never love you.." He told her, "You will never replace her.."

She shook her head wondering how he knew about Peggy. She knew he was on to something but she wasn't prepared to let him see that it had got to her. "Well.." She sighed leaving him with one last sentence before she shot off out of the window. "Good thing I'm not trying to be a replacement.."

Natasha jumped as Jennifer landed on the roof not to far behind her, she was gripping the scepter in shaky hands as the brunette walked towards her. "You good?"

"Yeah.." She muttered out, "Guys.. I can shut it down.."

"Do it!" Steve yelled.

Tony suddenly appeared over the coms, "No." He protested, "Wait!"

"What?" Steve demanded out of breath. "Why!"

"I've got a nuke coming in and it's ready to blow in less than a minute.." Tony replied causing both Natasha and Jennifer to look at each other as their faces paled, "And I know just where to put it.."

Steve sighed, "Stark, you know that's a one way trip."

Tony chuckled nervously, "Save the rest for the home coming cap.."

"Anthony Stark you better get your ass back down here." Jennifer warned as she walked towards the edge of the roof watching him. "I will come up their and kick your ass. Pepper and I need you down here!"

"You've got Cap and Pep will have you." Tony shot back.

"Not good enough!" Jennifer yelled at him, "Just get back down here. Promise me!"

"I promise.." Tony replied as he disappeared out of their view and through the portal. Pepper's cell ringing out as he tried to call. "Could'a been worse.."

They all began to look between themselves, waiting for anything, anything at all. Steve sighed, "Close it.."

Jennifer let out a soft sob that she tried to keep as quiet as possible however they all heard it over the coms as she dropped down to her knees.

"Son of a bitch-" Steve muttered causing the brunette to shoot up from her crouch to see Tony fall through the portal. "He's not slowing down.."

"I'm not fast enough!" Jennifer yelled as she threw herself off of the roof down towards him pushing herself to go as fast as she could just as the Hulk appeared soaring past her to grab him. "Thank god for Bruce.." She turned direction and headed back down towards the ground where the Hulk had 'gently' placed Tony on the ground. "Is he breathing?" Steve shook his head with a sigh, she bit back a sob as Steve pulled her into his chest. The Hulk suddenly let out a loud roar..

"What the hell!" Tony yelled as he shot forward gasping for breath, "What happened?" He asked, "Please tell me nobody kissed me,"

"I'm about to!" Jennifer smiled as she jumped out of Steve's arms to press her lips to Tony's cheek causing the older man to laugh. "I'm so glad you're okay! I would hate to ruin my shoes by kicking your metal ass.."

"Oh right.." Tony smirked, "Well hey! Well done guys, eh, let's just not come in tomorrow - maybe take the day off." They laughed, "There's a shwarma down the block - I wanna try it - Don't know what it is.."

Thor sighed looking up at the broken tower, "We're not finished yet.."

"Fine.." Tony agreed, "Shwarma after.."

The team stood amused looking down at Loki who hadn't managed to move more than a few inches by the time they had closed everything down. Steve looked down at Jennifer amused as she stood beside him with a small ball of flames hovering above the palm of her hand.

"If it's all the same to you I'll have that drink now.." Loki grunted out.

"Shwarma now.." Tony muttered looking over at Jennifer who just grinned at him and nodded. "Finally.."


	7. Chapter 7

'So... You like her?'  
Manhattan, New York City

"Fletch.." Bruce questioned looking over at the untouched burrito that sat in front of the brunette, she cast a quick look over at him. "You gonna eat that."

She laughed brightly. So far, the Doctor had managed to scoff down at least four of them whilst she hadn't touched one, she had just been sipping on her Dr. Pepper. "Go right on ahead.."

Everyone seemed to be content in sitting in silence just thinking about the events of the last few days. Loki was back in S.H.I.E.L.D containment with no chance of escaping. Manhattan was an absolute mess. Their team made it through the events with a few bumps, bruises and one near death experience.

Natasha looked over to the brunette catching her attention. "Are you alright?" She mouthed.

Jennifer couldn't shake the feeling of what could have happened if Andie was still in the city. "I'll be right back.."

She walked out of the small cafe watching as people continued to wander the streets in small huddles scared that maybe everything wasn't over. Lucky for them, it was. She looked down at her hands to see the dried blood and cuts that covered her hands, she just let out a small sigh and pulled her cellphone out from inside her suit.

She listened to the dial tone waiting patiently, "Jennifer!?" She smiled hearing the panic in her brother-in-laws voice, "Are you okay?! You're all over the bloody news."

"Chris.." She laughed softly, "I'm fine.."

"No more aliens are gonna come out of the sky right?" He asked.

She shrugged, "Not that I am aware of yet.." She replied. "Is Andie okay?"

Chris laughed, "You've just fought of an army of aliens and you're wondering how the fussiest little girl in the world is doing?" He asked, "She has been glued to the TV screen shouting Auntie Jem-Jem for the last hour.."

She laughed as tears pooled in her eyes, "That's my girl." She looked off to her left to see that she wasn't alone anymore, Steve stood awkwardly beside her. "Chris. I've got something to take care of here. I'll be back in D.C in a few days.."

"Are you okay?" Steve asked looking down at her cautious that the last time they had talked she hadn't been too happy with him. "Boyfriend?"

She laughed, "Brother in law." She replied. "My niece Andie, lucky for me is in D.C but I just can't shake the feeling about what happens if the next time this happens - I can't protect her."

"Her mother?" Steve asked.

"My sister died just about a year ago," She sighed. "She was my best friend for as long as I can remember. She was on a mission overseas and didn't make it home-"

Steve sighed, "I am so sorry."

She smiled sadly, "We all lose someone at some point in our lives. She looked from him down to her boots, "It's not like anyone stopped to make sure you were alright," He arched his brow at her, "You've lost a lot too Steve."

"I've gained you.." He murmured under his breath so quietly that she didn't hear him, she only saw him bow his head.

She began to fidget slightly as she looked up at the blonde, ever since she had pulled him from the ice she had never been happier to know the soldier - even if the majority of the time she had spent with him he had been unconscious. "Steve?" She asked. He looked up at her waiting for her question. She propped herself up on her tip toes so she was near enough the same height as him, the platforms of her boots helping. "Thank you.." She whispered as she pressed her lips to his gently. Steve's eyes were wide at her actions but slowly they fell closed as he moved to hold her feeling a tear run down her cheek to his.

"You never have to thank me for returning the care you've shown me." He whispered as she smiled at him, "I should be thanking you.."

* * *

A Few Days Later ...

For once the entirety of Central Park seemed empty, the Team stood around watching as Loki was escorted from the back of the S.H.I.E.L.D van with a muzzle over the bottom half of his face. Jennifer stood awkwardly beside Natasha and Clint, her hands clenching her trench coat as she fought to not go for her gun. Everyone stood around on alert waiting for something, anything to go wrong. They had spent the last few days on the helicarrier, ensuring that everything had been cleared up and their stories cemented with Fury.

"Can we just get rid of him please.." Jennifer asked taking her bags from Clint who just smiled.

"We're working on it.." He replied, "Now give me a hug." She smiled as the older agent pulled her into a tight hug, "Don't be a stranger to us now, you know you are always welcome out on the farm."

"I know Clint," She smiled. "Thank you.."

Natasha nudged her in the ribs with a smirk as she looked over at Steve who was standing awkwardly a few feet away. They hadn't really spoke about the kiss, they had just pretended that nothing had happened and that seemed to be working for them - well for Steve. "Go talk to him."

"Yes Widow," Jennifer replied with a mock salute as she turned on her heel before walking over to him. He smiled at her as she came to a stop in front of him. "Good morning."

"Morning Jenn." He replied. "So-"

"If that kiss made you uncomfortable then I am sorry but I've been waiting nearly a year to do that.." She blurted out as he looked down at her shocked, however the longer he stared a small smirk made it's way onto his face. "If it didn't.. then I am totally available for coffee after this is all over."

"Just coffee?" Steve questioned amused. She smirked. "I mean I wouldn't be too opposed to escorting you to dinner if you would let me."

"Oi!" Tony yelled interrupting the two of them, "Love birds!" They rolled their eyes at him, "C'mon, let's get this show on the road!" He smirked, "And Cap.. She likes her coffee strong!" He winked causing Jennifer to blush as Steve looked between the pair of them confused.

"Thanks Tone.." She muttered as they all stood to look between themselves as Thor held the tesseract up to Loki to take the other end. "Good ridence.."

They watched as the brothers disappeared in a blur of blue light and suddenly it felt as if a weight had been lifted from all of their shoulders. Steve cleared his throat from beside her, "So strong coffee huh?"

* * *

So that's it.. My first ever story has been updated and posted for the last time. If you want me to continue it through Winter Solider, Age of Ultron and now Civil War please let me know and I'll start straight away! I already have a bucket load of ideas for some sequels if you guys want them that is! I still have more stories to write especially my Winter Soldier fic!

Stay tuned


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